Jean Shin and Brian Ripel "Transplanted Ornament"
Brooklyn Public Library (Central)
This event has ended.
For this site-specific installation, we negotiated the removal of hundreds of decorative wrought iron elements from Brooklyn brownstones. These ornamental "curly Qs" adorned window bars, gates and fences, perhaps in an attempt to conceal their security function.
This artwork is installed in the staircase between the second and third floors of the library, where it embellishes the utilitarian railings. Initially, the wrought iron scrolls politely occupy their conventional spaces between the bars of the stair handrail. The ornament slowly encroaches upon the unused void space at the center of the stairwell, blossoming into a self-supporting, free-form construction, as if finally liberated from its security role.
To view the installation, enter the staircase just outside of Society, Sciences & Technology on the second floor.
You can also view documentation for this project in the Lobby Gallery, just outside the Multilingual Center on the first floor.
Media
Schedule
from September 15, 2009 to February 21, 2010